


Tales of the Oracli

by michaeldaleywrites



Category: Tales of the Oracli - Fandom, The Oracli
Genre: Michael Daley, Tales Of The Oracli, The Oracli - Freeform, X - Freeform, lilly - Freeform, michaeldaleywrites, z - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22507282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michaeldaleywrites/pseuds/michaeldaleywrites





	1. An Origin To The Legends (A Prologue)

Have you ever noticed something you cannot explain? Something you have seen which looks, sounds, feels normal but you can see it's not? Let us look at an example then, will we? You are walking down the street, listening to your music. When you see someone, dodging and weaving, holding onto his bag for dear life. He wears a suit and tie; He looks like a businessman, but you know different, you know something that they don't.

You have experienced things in your time. You have heard whispering from the other side. You have FIRST-HAND experience with the unexplored. Now imagine you recognise what is going on. The man running through the street. Still dodging and weaving, still holding onto his bag for dear life. But this time, he isn't a businessman; He looks like one, but you can tell that he isn't, that he is not from Earth.

Now depending on where you are reading this, in your room, on the train, on your device. You may enjoy this story more. Well, I say story; I suppose I mean stories. You see this book may seem like a collection of stories, but, like any good story, it builds up. You will see how the adventures of Z and X of The Oracli will build-up to one of the worst wars in the history of our universe.

I cannot tell you now, you will find out on your own. Scattered throughout the pages of this book are clues, clues that will lead to a climax. A climax that, if you end up enjoying the stories I tell. The characters I invent. Will either make you cry or make you happy beyond belief. Now that all this is over with, let me tell you about the world you are about to enter. A world beyond the imagination.

Before the universe, there was a being of unmatched power. Angered by the emptiness, he created a species of his very own, The Oracles. The Oracles were powerful, and with their power, they began experimenting. They created hundreds of planets with millions of different species.

After a few millennia of creating, their bodies wore out and faded, creating The Oracli from the dust. The Oracles were left as disembodied beings incapable of death. Meanwhile, The Oracli thrived, enjoying the universe one step at a time. The Oracles created life on every planet in the multi-verse. When developing the brain, The Oracles input a basic communications method. The Alphabet, named after the alpha species, The Oracli.

The Oracli aren't the powered species. Their bodies, engineered to be the perfect species. They have a brain 2 times that of humans, which can hold almost 50 times more than a humans brain. They have a dual vascular system, meaning two hearts and twice the energy of a regular human. They have 5 kidneys, all where kidneys should not be. But the most defining feature of an Oracli is their powers. More notable abilities are as follows. Matter Manipulation. Renewal. Folding. And many more. They were the powerhouse of the universe.

Before long, many civilisations universe-wide had heard of The Oracli. People formed religions, there were sacrifices and everything. Oracli also ages, a "developed" Oracli is around 100 years old, the equal of an 18-year-old on Earth. At 100, now that The Oracli's mature, they go through at least 300 years of training. Learning about different cultures, their own abilities, ways to blend in, ways to stand out. Anything else they need to know.

Now that all over with and you know the world and characters, it's time to throw you into the deep end. I know this is short, I never meant it to be a full chapter, I suppose it's more of a prologue, a guidebook of sorts. Now I let you through the golden gates that is my mind and into everything I have imagined.


	2. The Butterfly and The Storm

Z and X, after finishing their training, had decided it was time for them to leave The Oracli Temple. They had received a beautiful and heart whelming farewell from the rest of their kin, but N and A were the ones who made them weep. "Go on brothers. Bring order and peace. Be the heroes we know you are." N had said.

"We'll meet again and when we do, you'll be more than you are now. Until then, we must part." A had added, tears filling her large green eyes. Since then, they had visited many places, but none as interesting as the one they came upon now. They had visited the Cabinet War Room in 1940 to visit Winston Churchill, they had tea with him and discussed "humane battle tactics". They also visited Gamma 36.4-B (as it was known by humans) also known by the inhabitants as, Q'irtis. There they enjoyed the planets food, games, music and people.

But now they were in The Fold. The Fold was an area of space between dimensions, allowing them almost instantaneous transport between two points. They had edited their Fold Matrices so it would be able to place them somewhere in the universe they had never been before.

"3...! 2...! 1...!" belted Z, as they were catapulted onto a busy street. "Well, that was a strong kick! Something must be wrong in the stabilisation field, must get that sorted one time!" muttered X, rubbing his elbow which he had slammed into a street lamp as they exited The Fold. They scanned their surroundings, taking in all the information. As Z searched the left of them, he saw a long road with a horse and carriage riding towards them, the horse trotting along, listening to the people in the coach talking about Mrs Perry's Tea Party which both men had attended the night.

There was also a shop which the carriage (which was still heading towards the street corner) blocked. The shop was a small black storefront with a large sign of dark, burnt wood. On the sign, it said 'Police Dept. London Crimes Unit.' Z was becoming confused now, how could this be London? They've already been to Earth, either something has gone wrong with the Fold Matrix, or someone has pulled them here, on purpose.

To their right, X noticed a woman in a large dress that almost took up the whole street corner. The dress was a large purple design with a floral pattern of dark pink. She was also holding a large black parasol, which she aimed in front of her as the Horse and Cart pulled up to the corner, splashing mud her way, which was deflected back onto the street by the parasol, this must happen a lot.

Z and X already knew where they were by now, and they used it to their advantage. They both climbed into the carriage, whose doors had swung open with a thought from X. Once inside, X had pulled the door closed behind them and they both turned towards the two men within the compartment.

One was a gaunt man with a long tan overcoat, a black bowler hat and long black trousers. On his feet, he had stern black work boots which had a jagged scratch across the middle of each, most from a working accident. The other man held quite a large build and wore a black leather overcoat, a large black and white deerstalker on his head and long black pants, so long it almost seemed as if they were too big for him. On his feet he had similar boots to the first man, only his were much better kept. One of them turned to say something, opened his mouth and then recoiled.

"Don't know what to say eh Withers?" Z taunted. Withers was an old friend of theirs, he was in the cabinet war rooms as Churchill's assistant. "Judging by the giant bell being imputed into Big Ben, I'd wager it was August the 6th, 1856, the day Big Ben was donned with its bell. Would I be correct in this assumption Withers?" X stated, filling the silence.

Withers' face had scrunched up, he turned to X and Z and sighed. "You would be correct. As soon as I arrived last year thanks to you two," He said, shooting a look towards Z and X. "I found a newspaper in the local pub which said March 3rd, 1855 and at that moment I knew what happened given your description of The Fold. Ever since I've been living my life here. I have a family now, A wife, two kids, a boy and a girl and a lovely house up in the north. But that's not what you've come back, for now, I'm guessing? You'd be here for The Butterfly knowing you two..." Withers added, looking at the two, glancing into each man's eyes and seeing the signature Oracli mark, the mark of the letter they're named to.

"The Butterfly? Who is this you speak of Withers? The Fold Matrix brought us here randomly, we did not choose or know of our location before arriving." Z retorted the name was stupid he had thought, like a superhero from a terrible Earth movie.

"So you haven't heard? Blimey, everyone's heard of The Butterfly! He's been terrorising this place for years now. Well, I suppose if you will help we must tell you the basics. So, The Butterfly is a man or woman who no-one knows, If you do something bad to someone, he or she will leave you a note with a blood-red butterfly stamped onto it, to let you know they have targeted you. It all started with a man by the name of Adam Jacobs, he had received the note after robbing an old lady of her coach and her bag. He threw the note into the fireplace and went about his day.

The next day, he was working in his garden, on a wooden ladder, re-adjusting the flower pots hanging from his upstairs balcony when a butterfly flew past his face. It was blood red and had 'ADAM' spelt out across its wings. It flew down below the ladder, flapped its wings once, and the ladder collapsed taking Adam with him. He died on the spot, and ever since, we all take The Butterfly." Withers breathed, he had somehow said this all in one breath, like he was scared to say it, but now he was relieved that he had said it and the deed was over.

They continued the ride until they reached a large house set into the side of a rolling green landscape. The rolling hills were almost alive with the sound of animals. As they drove in through the large emerald gates, a man in a black tux waved them through, Z didn't know why but he felt... odd. Like something was wrong, the same feeling you get before you do something death-defying. They continued down the drive and pulled into a large courtyard, there were many people walking about the grounds, but three people stood out to them, one tall, built man with the largest chin they had both ever seen.

He was wearing a purple suit with a pink bowler hat. On his feet, he wore purple suit shoes, with a buckle of emerald on the top, like the type you see in the typical puritan photo. He held a purple cane with an emerald set into the top. This man must own the house. Beside him were two women, one taller than him and the other shorter, they both wore the same style of dress and the woman from the street corner, one that made them both look rather larger than they were. Each dress was bright yellow with a floral pattern of orange around the edges, making them look rather like human flower pots to X. They all spoke at once in a monotone voice, like they had trained this greeting.

"Hello. Welcome to Baker Manor, the home of the illustrious Scott Baker and his wives, Eliza and Jacqueline Baker. How can we be of service, Z and X of The Oracli?" They droned, at the same time with no delay between words. "Ah, okay, that's odd... Didn't know the Gootrajans were this far out, what are you doing beyond the Galactic Corps?" Z questioned, a puzzled grin spreading across his face.

The three morphed into a cloud of purple gas with extra clouds made to look like eyes and a mouth. "I was on the run and came across Earth. It interested me and I visited." The creature droned, he smiled at them, more cloud extending from the main mass and shooting outwards like an arm, "Come inside for tea, I've rather been enjoying having tea!" He beamed, floating his way towards the large black wooden doors on the other side of the courtyard.

Z and X waved to Withers to tell him to follow, and they all caught up with the creature. "Don't mind me asking I hope, but what might your name be? I cannot go around calling you creature now can I?" X queried, adjusting the collar of his coat so it covered his neck. "My name is Gretzenklotlis of the planet Jatsikan in the Galactic Corps. I already know both of your names. But who might this man be?" Gretzenklotlis answered, turning to walk backwards and eyeing up Withers. "I am Withers, I am an old friend of Z and X, I'm a Private Detective in the area around Big Ben." Withers droned like he had practised this speech many times. After a few minutes of walking and an interesting conversation about Gootrajan dietary needs, Gretzenklotlis pushed open the door of the large house and ushered them in.

The entire inside was metal, like a spaceship hidden inside a house. Every wall in the house was covered in circles of all sizes each glowing purple and illuminating the room with a violet glow. The stairs were interesting too, each step had a pressure plate sitting on top, each being wired into the stairs themselves.

Z scanned the room, taking in every detail. As far as he could tell, the pressure plates were set so anyone or anything that set foot on it would set off a pair of flame cannons Z now realised were set into the roof above each step with small red wires of the same colour as the ones connected to the pressure plates. But on the wall at the top of the stairs, there was a blue button which Z had noticed had human fingerprints on it, from Gretzenklotlis pressing the button to disable the trap.

At the top of the stairs were three doors, one large iron door with bars in the windows, which Z could hear a light tapping of four beats coming from like someone was inside looking for a way out, it must be locked from the outside. The second door was a much nicer door of gold, with a window of orange stained glass. Z could see inside and all he could see, was a large bed, a chamber pot and a 21st-century lamp in the shape of a rocket ship. The third door, however, is what interested Z the most. A large black door. He shook it off however and snapped back into the conversation.

"So, Z, X. What are we going to do about The Butterfly then? Because I know you two, and you two will butt in again and try to fix all of this!" Withers blurted out. "Well... X, tell me you noticed exhibit A!" Z exclaimed, pointing to the large black door. "I have, Z. And if you've noticed it too, then you know what it means. Go on Sherlock, I'll allow you to say it." X gestured, waving his arms to Z.

"All right. Well to start, that door is a shadow gate, a special gateway that shapes itself to anything that will blend in with its surrounding, beside the little fault that whatever form it takes, is demonic black and with no emotion or texture or anything emitting from it. It exists." Z expels, as he stops pointing at the black door and moves to the second door, the large golden one.

"And that second door, large, golden, grand. Very interesting considering inside there is a bed and a child's lamp from the 21st century... Which means you, in fact, did NOT come here just for The Butterfly, you have been to the 21st century too. For what purpose other than stealing a child's bedroom lamp I may never know. But what's most interesting would be that third door." Z spits, once again moving his finger from the golden door to the iron door.

"Someone or something is behind that door. I can hear the tapping and I assume everyone else in this room can too. Mind if we look? Mind you, you don't have a choice, we'll break down that door if you say no which means whatever you don't want getting out will be out. And that can't be too good for any of us!" Z whispered, a grin spreading across his face.

Gretzenklotlis sighed and floats up to the stairs, not touching any pressure plates. Once he reaches the top, he morphs his left hand and most of his arm into that of a human pushes the button and morphs it back to its gaseous state. They made for the stairs but before they did, X has put his arm out and extended it so it wrapped around Z and Withers. He pulled a small black orb from his pocket, pushed a button in the middle and it extended into 16 smaller orbs of the same design. X threw them, each landing on a pressure plate and triggering the flame trap above. Flames plumed from the ceiling, exploding downwards like a waterfall of heat.

They stopped, and they all looked at Gretzenklotlis and he shrugged "Worth a try I guess..." he sighed, waiting for them to ascend. Z and X didn't feel like taking chances this time, after seeing what just happened. They surrounded their bodies with a strange purple glow as if their bodies became a lamp covered in purple cellophane. They rose off the floor, up about a foot and then gained height, ascending the stairs. Once they had reached the top, they floated down onto the carpet of the upper floor, their glow fading into nothing. "After you Gret." X chided, growing sick of Gretzenklotlis' games.

Gretzenklotlis pulled from the inside of his coat a small key. It was made of the same metal as the door was, except the key had been rusted and chipped. Like it had never been used and left for dead. He unlocks the door, swings it open and floats inside, gesturing for Z and X to follow. They stepped inside and felt the temperature drop, their pulses both raised and their hearts began to be as fast as they ever had. Z knew what this was, and by the look on X's face, he did too.

"Hello. I am Z, this is X, my brother, this is Withers and this, as you most likely know, is Gretzenklotlis. And which one are you hm? I know what you are. I can sense it, they built it into each of us. You KNOW what is going on here... Eh, Butterfly?" Z contorted, his voice filling with anger.

"You know nothing of me Z. We may share blood but I do not conform to The Oracle's ways or beliefs. You cannot force me onto anything or anyone." The Butterfly spoke, his voice echoing through the room, his silhouette the only thing of his person visible, apart from a strange glowing butterfly where his eye would be, like the symbol Z and X had to identify them, except this was self-induced.

"We will not force you into our ideals. But if we must, Z and I WILL stop you from hurting more people. Do you not see what you are doing is wrong? Do I have to show you what you are doing to people? What this power they have granted you with has been used for?" X pleaded, his left hand was glowing a dark red now, that unsettling red almost destined in human DNA to mean danger. The Butterfly stepped forward, his face becoming visible now. He was a bold-faced man, a scar from his right eye to his jawline was the main feature of his face, the thing that drew the most attention apart from the butterfly in his eye, which was now glowing brighter than anything before.

His hair was a ruffled brown mess which somehow made him MORE intimidating. He wore a similar suit to Withers' except it was bright orange, the undershirt being a darker orange and the bowtie, red. One more thing caught X's eye. The Butterfly wore no pants or shoes. They all averted their eyes. "...Uhm..." Z chuckled, his face going red.

"What?" The Butterfly said, the confusion clear on his face.

"You-You don't know...?" X added.

"I don't know what? This is no laughing matter sirs!" The Butterfly growled.

They all chuckled while The Butterfly stood, dejected.

"Answer me dammit! What the hell is the problem!" The Butterfly growled again.

"...Your pants sir..." Gretzenklotlis pointed out, the clouds his body was made of faded to pink in embarrassment. The Butterfly looked down and noticed pants, socks and shoes materialised in a moments notice to cover his legs. "Now that your laughing fit has ended Z. I believe it is time for me to make my grand escape." The Butterfly said, a grin forming on his face.

"And how are you gonna do that?" Z retorted. Z's hand gravitated to his belt, where a sword lay hidden behind his cloak. He fiddled with the hilt, his hands ready to react. "Well by doing this!" The Butterfly barked, his hands outstretched beside him. Each arm transformed into a large spike made of black crystal.

"What in the name of The Oracles!" Z screamed. The door behind them flew shut, knocking everyone but Z and The Butterfly outside. "Z! Help, the door's jammed, we can't get you out!" X screamed through the bars, trying to break it down but all the power he flings at it is just absorbed and dispersed into purple dust. "It's all right X, I've got this just believe! That is after all why they call me The Storm" Z yelled back. He had pulled his sword from its hilt now, holding it in front of him and towards The Butterfly.

The Butterfly lunged forward with no warning, his spikes flying at Z's chest, Z blocked them with his sword, pushing them and The Butterfly back across the room, spinning from the impact and landing to face him again. The Butterfly once again lunged towards Z, this aiming his spikes towards Z's head. Z went to block the spikes by thrusting his sword towards where he estimated The Butterfly would strike. But The Butterfly was smart, he came as close as he could, then slipped backwards, through Z's legs, cutting one clean off, blood covering the room and spraying out through the bars on the door.

The blood was gold, Z had never noticed their blood colour, but now was no time to admire his own blood. He pushes himself up with his hands, landing on his singular foot, waiting for The Butterfly's next strike, looking around the room. Everywhere he looked he saw the butterfly mark in The Butterfly's eye, glowing and taunting him from everywhere in the room. They all ran towards him at once.

Spikes flung through his body from all angles, hundreds of them, each impaling a different part of Z's body, blood exploding outwards. Z's eyes, which were bright green, began to fade. After a minute, each version of The Butterfly puffed out of existence, leaving the only Z in the room, on the floor, bleeding, dying. The Butterfly had escaped.

The door swung itself open and slammed against the iron wall with a satisfying clang. "Z! Z are you all right, come on, tell me you're all right please!" X pleaded he was keeled over next to Z's body, hands on his chest, over his wounds. "Come on, please I beg of you be okay! We need each other! We are brothers! Together we are strong! Apart we are weak! And apart... You are dead..." X choked, golden tears filling his eyes. He crumples over, lying his head on Z's chest, golden blood staining his face. He listened to Z's heartbeat.

Boom Boom Boom Boom

Boom Boom Boom

Boom Boom

Boom

And then silence. Nothing. Z laid on the floor, eyes filled with sorrow and fear. Dead.


	3. Wolfsbane Part 1: The Renewal

X stood, shocked and terrified after watching his brother struck down and murdered. His mind racing, the blood in his body burning and boiling. He looked around the manor, Gretzenklotlis was standing there, dazed. X observed his surroundings. He looked at the ground, no footsteps. He looked to the window, shut and locked just as it had been before Z had died. He looked down the stairs; the trap was still active, he couldn't have left that house.

And yet somehow, he was gone. Disappeared into the wind. Gretzenklotlis turned to X. "Uhm. Well, this is... Awkward..." Gretzenklotlis whispered. X's eyes were surrounded with a black flame, his pupils growing in size and being covered in black. He turned his right hand from his side to Gretzenklotlis' body, and let loose a beam of energy, disintegrating him in seconds. "Please, not me, sir. I just told you what was happening!" Withers pleaded.

"Relax Withers. You're fine." X stated, hoisting Z's body into his arms and.

"What is to happen to him? Will he be safe?" Withers whispered.

"I'll see what they can do. There has to be a way to save him." X choked.

"And what if there isn't sir? What will you do if they cannot save him?" Withers queried.

"If my brother is dead. I will hunt down and slaughter the Butterfly and his entire bloodline. I will stain his filthy blood along with the roots of his family tree." X growled through gritted teeth. And with that line, he disappeared into The Fold and within seconds, he was home.

They were greeted to the usual site, the temple with its radiant glow. The plants outside, the most beautiful and powerful plants in existence. The Oracles, floating around above his head, dancing in the sky like shooting stars of energy. But the thing that made him excited was N and A. He ran into the temple, pushing past N and A, who had seen Z's body and ran inside after him. "What the hell!" N screamed.

"What happened X, who did this!" A gasped, her hands clasped into Z's.

"We were in London, 1856. There was this man. An Oracli. He went by the name 'The Butterfly'. We confronted him and tried to stop him from using his powers for murderous acts. He laughed it off and killed Z. And The Renewal hasn't taken effect yet! Something's wrong, wrong!" X spit, all at once, wheezing afterwards.

They each snapped their fingers and 4 Oracles floated down to them. "We have a code blue, 'death without renewal' We need to activate it. Do you know of anyway?" N asked the front Oracle.

"There is a way. But it is dangerous and could cause problems." The Oracle said.

"Worse than death?" snapped X.

"Depends on his wishes. This could change everything about him. He would no longer be himself." The Oracle mumbled. X sighed. This decision was so important. And yet he could not bring himself to do it. He waved his hand at The Oracle, telling them to move along with the procedure and they got to work.

He left the room and stepped outside, sitting on a small bench near some flowers and in front of a pond. He sat with his hands over his face, covering it from view. He sat outside like this for almost 4 hours, listening to the noises from inside. Each sigh of relief, each gasp of concern. All of it. And then.

BANG

Tap... Tap... Tap...

A burst of white dust exploded from every entrance to the temple, the windows, the doors, the cracks in the walls. Someone was leaving the room. It was A and a new woman. The woman had strawberry blonde hair with a beautiful face. She wore purple lipstick and other makeup accessories X didn't recognise. Her hair was covering one half of her face. Her hair was messy and disorganised like she had just woken up. She wore a long black dress down to her ankles, over the top she had a green and white leather jacket and a hood. She wore leather boots which were also white and green.

He brushed the hair from her face and in her eye. Was the signature mark. The golden Z. This woman was Z. Z collapsed into A's arms before they made it to the bench he was sitting on. X took Z's head into his lap, laying her body down across the rest of the bench. "This is him? Z is a woman now?" X requested.

"It's like The Oracle said, 'He would no longer be himself.' Z's going through something new to us. He's, or maybe I should say SHE'S going through the unimaginable. It'll take her time to adjust to it all, so just be patient with her." A responded, the worry and grief in her voice showing. "We can still adventure, yes?" X asked, he DEFINITELY didn't want this setback changing the course of Z's life!

"You can adventure and have full responsibility to do so. Just TRY not to get yourselves into trouble...?" A asked her face scrunching and transforming into that of a sad puppy dog. "Yes, yes all right, all right! You know I hate it when you do the puppy dog eyes!" X responded, looking down towards Z and brushing the hair from her face and behind her ears.

Within an hour, they were off again. Z was awake again, but she had still not seen her new appearance. X wasn't looking forward to that part. They intertwined their hands, holding each other. X entered a set of numbers and letters into the console on his Fold Matrix and flicked the Randomizer Switch. He pushed the Time Lock Dial in and the entrance generator began to shine in the pale moonlight, X looked to Z, turning her head towards the group now standing and waving behind them.

They both wave. "Bye-Bye, all! See you all another time! Oh and A! Chuck us some lipstick yeah?" Z yelled, washing her hand more, like a child waving to a friend leaving their birthday party. A reached into her pocket and pulled out a few sticks of lipstick. One black lipstick labelled 'Midnight Oil' another white lipstick named 'Parchment Powder' and one more pink one named 'The Heart Wants'.

Z catches each one on the tip of her index finger, stacking each on top of the other. She pushes them up into the air, spins on her toes for a moment and they all fall into the inside of her jacket, disappearing from view. X reaches for the entrance generator but Z rockets her hand to it first, pushing it with her nail. She turned to X, smirked, her eyes lighting up. She smiled, and off they went. Into The Fold.

X pushed a button on his Fold Matrix, causing them to stop, standing in The Fold Stream. "We need to talk," X stated, turning to see, a very distracted Z, who had conjured a table, two chairs, a tea tray with tea and cups for the two of them, a small mirror on the table in front of them. The pink lip gloss floats from her pocket to sit in the air in front of her, the top unscrewing and dipping itself into the liquid. "Then tell me! I'll be listening! Just gonna do my makeup!" Z said, not looking at X.

"Oh, Well uhm." X stuttered.

"Go on sweetie, what's the matter with Lil' ol' me eh?" Z stated, shooting a look at X.

"Can you not call me Sweetie? You changing like this is enough for me as it is thanks..." X asked.

"Sorry, dear! Well, about that! I'm still me dear! This new body, it's still me! I just... got an upgrade! Cheated death! And, my attitude and personality fit this body perfect! And not a bad body at all if I say so myself!" Z sped, saying all of this in one long breath, running her hands down the curves of her body.

"Are you gonna be all right to adventure? I don't want you going into this and dying AGAIN because you're too close to your Renewal... I just don't want you getting hurt..." X pleaded. Z set her teacup down, the lipstick, now finished, floats itself back into her pocket.

She stands up, her hair bouncing as she walks over to X. She takes his hands and kisses him on the cheek. "Listen. I'll be fine! I'm just getting used to things! I'll still be able to handle this!" Z stated, letting go of his hands as they are rocketed into a forest. "You sneaky witch!" X chuckled.

The surrounding forest was far eerier than they had been hoping. Around them, they saw fog and lots of it. The fog crawled across the ground, engulfing their feet and shielding them from view. The trees were very thick, some with scratches and others with bullet holes. Above them, the moon shone bright, and the stars danced around in the sky. "X... We have a problem..." Z quivered, she moves into a fighting position, a sword materialising out of nowhere in her left hand, and a shield in her right. X turned to where Z was looking, and in the distance there laid, perched above a branch.

Two blue eyes, glowing in the dim light. The figure shifted, X did the same. X moved into a fighting position and summoned his weapons. The creature dropped from the branch, scurrying across the ground, rustling the leaves in its wake. It moved, it was on all fours, like an animal. It had its two rear legs (which were larger than the front two) bent, as if ready to pounce on its un-expecting prey. Its front two legs were straight.

It stepped closer, into a small spot where the trees no longer blocked the moon. The moon was full. As it stepped into the light, it revealed its form. A long fur-covered snout protruded from the creatures face. It growled, causing Z and X to stumble backwards. It had long, pointed ears which were scratched and cut. Its entire body was covered with scruffy black fur. It howled and then roared at X and Z. And without shame or regret, they turned, looked at each other, and ran like hell.

They continued through the forest, sprinting. They could tell that the werewolf was close behind, they could hear its loud pouncing, speeding through the forest. They heard a pounce and thought they were dead, but they kept running. After about an hour, they made it out of the forest and onto a road. They looked around. They knew they were on Earth, they couldn't be anywhere else... They turned to look for a street sign and were struck onto the paved road by a small black roadster. They lay on the road, eyes closed, listening.

They weren't injured at all. Their healing factor assured that much. But they pretended they were. "Goddamnit!" A man yells, hitting the trunk of his car then pointing to the bodies. "Another pair of these damned kids! A girl and a guy this time! I'm tellin ya, Astrid, these kids will be the deaths of themselves!"

"Oh sure, blame the kids Richard! It was YOUR car...!" Astrid yelled at Richard, Z could control her urge to giggle. "Don't blame me for these ruddy kids! They jumped in front of the car!" Richard growled. Astrid examined their bodies.

Z and X both held their breaths and stopped their hearts so they seemed dead. "Bring 'em back to Sarah. She'll know what to do. I reckon this one 'ere's the one she's been waitin' for." Richard said after a long pause. He picked Z up into his arms, walked her over to the car and laid her down on the back seat. He walks back and does the same with X, laying him next to Z.

The car ride felt like it lasted a lifetime. The car was boiling hot, like a sauna. The windows were closed. The radio was blaring and Astrid and Richard were screaming at each other over it. However, they got there and were picked up from the car and taken inside. They didn't hear or sense any life forms in the surrounding room, so Z and X opened their eyes, sat up and looked around.

They were in a lab. A large metallic room with beakers of beautiful coloured liquid every which way, scattered across desks. Papers with the name S.A.R.A.H. on each. Z's skin crawled, she looked around and saw something behind them out of the corner of her eye. "X. Behind us. Don't look." Z mumbled.

There were two eyes. Red and rectangular. Whatever the thing was, it stood forward and revealed itself. "I am S.A.R.A.H, and I am a Self Achieving Requisi-" S.A.R.A.H. stopped mid-sentence, glimpsing Z. She stepped forward and Z did the same. Sarah put her hand to Z's cheek, moving her head, from side to side. "Mother?" S.A.R.A.H. said through tears.


	4. Wolfsbane Part 2: Daughter of Z

"Excuse me? Who are you then hm?" Z muttered, confusion filling the room. The girl who's name appeared to be Sarah, smiled and muttered to herself. "Too early. I thought as much. Let's see them..." Sarah spoke, her square pupil looking up to the roof as if trying to remember something. Or in this case, checking memory banks. "Have you... Seen 'The Singing Stars of Sandronite III'?" Sarah asked, looking down towards Z again, noticing her confused look and looking back up, once again muttering.

"Early days then hm? all right... Have you met Predator?" Sarah questioned again, looking up at Z. Z looked at X then back at Sarah. "Lookie here girly. I don't know what kinda game you're tryna play..." Z snapped, Sarah just chuckling. "That's a no too! You must be VERY early!" Sarah smirked, looking up again. "Okay, this isn't funny anymore. Just stop it, Sarah." X stated, stepping forward. Z's arm shot outward, blocking X from stepping. X turned to her, and she shook her head. They both look back at Sarah. "Have you met Lilly yet...?" Sarah smiled, looking into Z's eyes.

She felt vulnerable. Like Sarah was probing her insides, looking through her mind and her heart. "I have met none of these people. And I have not met you." Z mutters. "Listen, You two are time travellers. You are Oracli. Hundreds of years old by now. I'd wager 600 years old each? Given the fact, your twins... And no, I am not your daughter, that was a joke.

Is it so hard to believe that someone from YOUR future would meet you beforehand?" Sarah babbled, her voice's pitch heightening, like a child almost. Z and X looked at each other, their jaws dropped. They put their hand to each other's chin. Closing their mouths. They each cough. "You don't have to trust me. But given you're here... I will bet you have already met The Werewolf of Maningo Forest?" Sarah said.

They talked in the doctor's room they were in, Z and X sitting on the operating bed and Sarah sitting on a chair across the room. Z had only now taken in what Sarah was wearing. She had long black, leather pants with rips at the knees. In the missing place, there were knee guards, like the kind a child's mother would tell them to wear on their first time riding a bike. Black leather boots that went up to her knees covered her feet. Her top was one of those 'Live, love, laugh' tops that you see in clothing shops. Over the top, she wore a trench coat made of purple silk.

"Look you two... I cannot tell you anything about your futures. Nothing. I'll give you a place to stay until this has all been dealt with." Sarah added, filling the silence which had followed a terrible one-liner from Z. "Thanks, Sarah! You're a lifesaver, honest!" Z said, her northern English accent coming through with the last word. They walk out to the back of the building, past the bins which were full and to be honest, repulsive, over the fence and into the silver SUV with the license plate: 'meddler'.

They drove for about a half-hour until arriving onto a college campus. "This is where you live?" X questioned, eyeing the building, the school was old, ancient it seems. They left each classroom window open, the inside visible in the light. Across one window, X could have sworn he saw something, a shadow, a figure in the dark, scurry across the window and into a room.

"You alright X?" Z stuttered X did a double take from Z to the window, turning his head but still looking at the window. "Y-Yeah. Just thought I saw something... Must've been a shadow..." X explained, he snapped out of it and looked at Sarah. He now noticed that Sarah was hiding something on her arm, under her left sleeve. Whenever she moved it, a tiny bit of it showed. It was gold and imprinted on the skin. It was a letter. He couldn't tell what it was. "Yes, I live on college grounds with my boyfriend Dima. You're gonna love him! Come, I'll show you to our room!" Sarah said.

They walked inside the building and up the staircase to the top floor. The clock at the end of the hall pointed to half past midnight. Sarah pulled a small gold key from her pocket and unlocked the door and, gesturing for them to enter first. Z stepped inside, followed by X. The dorm room wasn't large, It was about the same size as a child's bedroom.

Near the door was a large TV with stand and DVD collection below. On the other side of the room was a counter with two bar stools. And behind it, a fridge, oven and microwave. There was also a door. Which Sarah opened and stuck her head through. "Dima? Dima wake up! They're here. The ones I've been telling you about!" Sarah whispered. A loud thud came from the other room followed by footsteps. A man about 19 peered out through the crack in the door.

"Z and X? Sarah's been telling me all about you two! You must be here about the werewolf? Come along, I'll show you what we've got so far." Dima exclaimed, rushing back into the room and coming back a few moments later, dressed. He gestured into the room and they all piled in. Inside there was a single bed for the two of them, a large desk covering most of the right side of the room, and a mirror and chair on the left. On the desk, there were many papers scattered across the surface and an old Windows computer. On the wall, there were newspaper clippings, photos and other items pinned to the wall, strung together by a red string.

"All right. So, what we have so far. We all know what a werewolf is, but a small reminder. The term 'werewolf' comes from Old English: 'werwulf' meaning man-wolf. The legend states that the werewolf culture started in Ancient Greek mythology. Lycaon, the king of ancient Greek Arcadia, tested Zeus' greatness by serving him the roasted flesh of Lycaon's own son Nyctimus to see if Zeus WAS all-knowing. In return for the terrible things Lycaon did, Zeus transformed Lycaon into a wolf." Dima explained, pointing to a sketch of Lycaon and Zeus.

"Next he transformed all of Lycaon's remaining 49 sons into wolves too and revived Nyctimus, making him king in his father's place. In his mercy, Zeus allowed Lycaon and his sons to be human, but any time they would show anger or any ill-tempered emotions, they would transform into a wolf once more. Zeus then escaped and set the moon to trigger their transformation. The full moon is when they are MOST dangerous. But they are dangerous at all times..." Dima went on, pointing to different pictures as he continued his story.

"Zooming forward a few hundred years to Yorkshire Wolds in England off near York. It's the 18th century and tales of a mysterious 'half man - half wolf' beast appear under the name Old Stinker. It runs through an empty street late at night, slashes a horses throat with a man in the back. The horse bled out and died on the spot, the creature stayed for multiple minutes, tearing flesh and muscle from the dead horse and then off it runs into the woods. The man leaves and goes home but the next morning, it left nothing of the wreckage, it was like nothing had ever happened." Dima continued, now pointing to newspaper clippings which read 'drunk man blames horse death on strange wolf-man'.

"Now moving on, Big Stinker remains a mystery until 1960 where a lorry driver claims Old Stinker tried to smash its way into his cab. Once again, it disappeared into the woods. I had not seen since it, UNTIL, here in 2018. Multiple witnesses have claimed that it's back and running about the woods, witnesses have said: 'It was stood upright one moment. The next it was down on all fours running like a dog. It terrified me.' A woman said while walking her dog late at night. This DEFINITELY sounds like a werewolf to me. But, if you think that's not enough..." Dima spoke, still not looking at them.

He turns but walks straight past them to the mirror and chair, he flips the mirror backwards, revealing a small tattered envelope taped to the back. He removes it and flips the mirror back. He walks over to them and hands it to Z. "This was addressed to this building and this date. It arrived earlier today." He turns it over, revealing a wax stamp with the letter Z on it. He hands it to Z, and she takes it in her hand. She touches her index finger to the seal, and it disappears from the paper, re-appearing in her pocket. She opens the letter, unfolding it and reading it aloud.

"Dear Z, I hope this letter finds you in good health. They have informed me of your current situation. The werewolf you call 'Old Stinker' has been around for longer than we thought. As Dima has speculated, Old Stinker's first recorded appearance was in the 18th century. But what is odd, is that there are little to NO werewolf sightings around that area in between when Lycaon was transformed and became the first werewolf and the first sighting of Old Stinker. The legend of Lycaon and Zeus never mentioned if Lycaon and his family of wolves remained in Greece. Is it so hard to believe that they migrated to England?" Z reads, her lipstick shining in the pale moonlight from outside the open window.

She turns over the letter and continues to read. "If Dima has not already explained to you, then I will in this letter. Werewolf lifespans are FAR longer than Human lifespans. They can live for thousands of years. Is it so hard to believe that Old Stinker could be Lycaon himself, one of his children or even a distant relative? Do with this information as you will. But know: what you four do here, will be spoken of through history. Either you become The Wolf Slayers or the next werewolves. Good luck." Z read on, the draft from the window causing her to shiver.

"Who sent it?" X enquired, walking to close the window. Z looked on both sides of the paper. "Looks like there WAS a name, but someone's erased it. Can't make heads or tails of it now!" Z exclaimed, folding the letter back up and putting it into her jacket pocket. Z, Sarah and Dima each look over at X, who had frozen at the window. "You closing that? Or are we just gonna freeze?" Z grumbled, walking over to X, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You all right? You seem distant." Z mumbled.

X turned his head so his mouth was facing the corner of the window and near Z, he hadn't taken his eyes off a spot outside under the moonlight. "We need to go," X mumbled. He turned, began packing up all the newspaper clippings into a small pocket of his pants. "What's up? What d'you see?" Z asked, concerned now. "Dima, when Sarah woke you up to say we were here... Was that window open...?" X grunted, continuing to pack things away. Dima opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again, his eyes widening. "It's here. It's in the building..." Dima whispered.

They each ran around the dorm, packing important items into bags and pockets. Sarah pulled from a drawer a small black handbag with strange circular writing. She takes the handbag over to a painting which flipped up as she stood in front of it. Behind the painting were multiple weapons, including but not limited to, a large black crossbow with a silver arrow, a small submachine gun with S.A.R.A.H engraved onto the side, and hundreds of packs of bullets, she drops them all into the handbag. "How do those fit...?" X questioned as he walked past, his eyes widened. "Bigger on the inside. Old parlour trick a friend taught me. I would explain it, but we're kinda about to fight a werewolf so..." Sarah remarked, shrugging off X's question and closing the picture frame.

She pulled down her sleeve, pushing a green button which opens a small compartment. Out of it, she pulls 4 daggers, each with one of their names engraved onto the blade. She throws them to each of the members of their party, each person catching them almost. They all walk towards the door of the dorm leading to the hallway. They each look at Z who stood at the back of the group polishing her blade with her tongue, which she had transformed into a sponge with liquid.

She shrugs and transforms her tongue back, walking to the front of the group, up to the door and kicking it violently. The door flies off its hinges and out into the hallway, slamming against the wall with a loud thud. X walks down the hall a bit to a fire emergency lever. He smashes the glass in, pulling the lever. A loud alarm rang over the building, being heard inside and out. "Everyone out! This is an evacuation! Code Delta-7!" Dima screamed at the top of his lungs. From every floor and room bangs and crashes from people falling out of bed or running. People began filling the halls, teachers and students alike.

Sarah runs ahead, leading the pack of stampeding people. "Everyone out now, Get into your cars and drive around town. WARN PEOPLE. Make sure everyone in this whole town knows what's going on!" Sarah screams, looking back towards Z. Z nods towards her and Sarah winks. "Don't think you're escaping me that easy spaceman!" Sarah exclaimed, standing on top of the elevator shaft with the last group of people, cutting the rope with her dagger and plummeting to the bottom. Now it was just Z in the hallway, X had just jumped from the window to the floor with Dima on his back. Dima screamed the whole way down and Z could hear a faint laughing from below.

Z turned to go for the window too. But as she turned around, out of the corner of her eye she noticed the room had gone dark. The only light. Two blue glowing eyes. A streak of lightning dances from the sky to ground off in the distance. The light, filling the hallway for a moment. And in the window's place, stood a monstrous werewolf. Its whole body was covered in a thick hair, its mouth open, it bares its teeth, launching towards Z. The sound of tearing flesh could be heard from everywhere on the campus.


	5. Wolfsbane Part 3: Last of the Werewolves

Z braces for a fight, the dagger Sarah had given her in between her fingertips. The werewolf known as 'Old Stinker' launches itself towards her, flying. Z had only a split second to move. She looked the creature up and down, calculating where to aim the dagger at lightning speed in her head. She positions it.

Slash

Z opened her eyes. She lodged her dagger in the creature's arm, blood dripping from the blade. Z smiles at the beast. "Zeus sends his love!" She exclaimed, slicing downwards through the arm of the beast, ripping the flesh and muscle, blood flowing from the wound and onto the floor. 

Z pulls the dagger from Old Stinkers arm, the beast roared, using its uninjured arm to slice through the air, leaving a large scratch across Z's face over her right eye. Z staggered back down the hall, she puts her hand to the wound, pulling it off again a few moments later. It was covered in blood. She looked back up and the beast was gone.

She walked up to the window, looking out at everyone below who had been waiting for someone or something to emerge from the darkness behind the window. They all cheered as Z held the dagger with the beast's blood into the air, the blood glistening in the light. 

Z mounted the ledge, pin dropping onto the street about a metre from the crowd, landing on the footpath. People surrounded her, cheering and screaming. After about ten minutes of talking and explaining what had happened, people began piling off into cars and calling cabs. People were too afraid to walk.

Z heard a noise, like a camera. She looked around, searching for the noise but to no avail. She shrugged it off and turned back to find X, Sarah and Dima standing behind her. She jumps. "Could you three not sneak up behind me, yeah? I just fought a 100-pound werewolf, I'm kinda terrified of everything right now..." Z says, breathing between each word. 

Sarah steps forward and hugs Z around the waste. "I knew you could do it. I always knew you'd come back. One day." Sarah mumbled. Z puts her fingers around her chin, moving her head upwards to face her own. "You know me. You know about me. You know what my brother and I do. And if you know all of this. Then you know that we are always here to help." Z insisted, looking into Sarah's square eyes. 

"No matter the trouble, no matter how insignificant or how important, no matter how dangerous. We are here to help. Always." Z went on. Sarah's eyes lit up, and she stepped back. A smile shining across her face.

Z, X, Sarah and Dima hop in Dima's car, an old car that looks like they had passed it down from either his mother or his father, and they drove away from the campus. "What was all that? The warning code and the evacuation plan?" X piped up, they had not spoken a word since they left the campus a half-hour ago. "That's a complicated question... I need to dodge and weave through facts to not tell you anything you shouldn't know yet..." Sarah responded, looking back at them from the passenger seat. 

X looked at Z but Z had her eyes focused on a small bit of chewing gum stuck to the back of Dima's seat. She reached out to touch it with her index finger but X had slapped her hand away, shaking his head. Z crossed her arms and pouted like a child, X turning back to Sarah.

"What do you mean 'anything you shouldn't know yet'?" X asked, an inquisitive look spreading across his face. "We're from your future. We know things, have done things for your FUTURE selves. If we tell you anything, any tiny detail... All of t-" Sarah said, cut off by X, running his hands through the air. "All of time will collapse in on itself' yes, I am aware..." X cut in. Sarah looked back at X with a straight face and rolled her eyes, looking back at Z. "X is a buzzkill... Am I right Z?" Sarah asked, Z being surprised and looking up.

She smirked her usual smirk and opened her mouth to speak. She closed it again, thinking. She couldn't think. Something was pounding in her head, something loud, like feet, or paws, or something. Like something was banging its feet around inside her head. She looked up and spoke. "X is a 'buzzkill'." Z droned in a monotone voice. She then looked up and down. "What. The. Hell." Z Spoke, her voice normal again, her accent returning. "I swear that wasn't me..." Z pleaded, looking at X. The fear could be seen in her eyes, they glowed orange, the signature sign of fear for The Oracli.

They sped up, the car hurtling around corners, dodging and weaving between cars and taking shortcuts left, right and centre. arriving at a cottage in the country, there seemed to be almost nothing around, this house was the only man-made structure for miles. It was surrounded by forest and wildlife, however. As X looked out the window at the area, he saw many animals, he saw a pack of wolves howling from within the woods, running and jumping around. There was a large deer on the outskirts of the forest, its antlers housing multiple small blue sparrows. Z looked and pointed out the window at the wolves. "You think they're mates with Ol' Stinker?" Z chuckled, elbowing X, X chuckling too.

They pulled into the driveway of the cottage, they piled out and inside. There was someone waiting up the stairs. "Mistress Sarah! Master Dima! I didn't expect you to be at HQ so soon?" The man said. He was a tall man, Z thought. He must've been a butler because he wore the signature black-and-white uniform of one. Z smelled the room, searching for anything suspicious. She could smell blood.

She looked at X, who must've also noticed because she was looking back at Z. Concern in both of their eyes. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that Christopher, Old Stinker attacked at the college, we had to evacuate here," Sarah mumbled, hanging up everyone's coats on a coat rack beside the door. Z stepped forward, her hand on her sword, almost invisible to everyone besides X, who seemed to be the only one who noticed. X grabbed Z's hand, shaking his head. Z continued forward anyway, breaking free of X's grip, she walked up to the stairs, held Christopher's hand and guided him down to the ground, she walked him to stand beside her and they stood in front of X, Sarah and Dima.

"You know what's interesting about werewolves Sarah?" Z asked, looking towards Sarah. "That they are humans who transform into wolves...?" Sarah responded, a slight sarcasm peeking in her words. "That the transformation isn't total. If you injure a werewolf-like Ol' Stinker, the wound carries over to the human form. And since I cut Ol' Stinker down the arm leaving a significant wound, all we need to do is look for someone with the same injury." Z went on, looking at each person and ending on Christopher, she stares at him up and down, looking at his right arm.

"But we can't just go around town pulling peoples sleeves up looking for wounds? There are millions of people!" Dima exclaims, not following Z's train of thought. Z looked back at Dima and then back to Christopher. "It's a LOT more simple than that Dima my dear boy. And that is because..." Z exclaimed, raising her voice as she rips the sleeves from Christopher's arms. "He's right here!" Z continued. Christopher had a giant cut down his arm, blood explodes from the wound and onto the floor like a fountain.

Christopher looks at Z and smiles. "Very good... Very, VERY good... But it's too late for you..." Christopher mumbled, his eyes glowing red, his pupils shrinking. Z's pupils grow to fill her whole eyeball her eye glowing red. She turns to X, staring him up and down, smirking to herself. "I've been in control since last night at the school. Z's body is mine now. I own it. And I will use it to kill you so I can escape. I am Eleftherios, last son of Lycaon. And I WILL bring my father back. With your beloved sister's body..." Z droned, her voice deep and foreboding. It echoed around the room like there were multiple of her around the room. She laughs and pulls the dagger from her pocket, slicing it through the air and then positioning herself for battle.

X did the same, he pulled the dagger from his coat and readied himself. Z lunged forward, slicing every which way. X blocked and dodged every attack. He pushed Z back towards the wall, causing her to smash through into the kitchen. "I can't do this forever! I need to avoid hurting her! There must be a way to cut the link between Eleftherios and Z..." X yelled as he blocked another lunge from Z, this time, Z had kicked towards him. He caught her foot, swinging her through the air and sending her back into the kitchen.

"We could kill Eleftherios! If we do, the link will die with him AND he wouldn't be able to bring back his father!" Sarah exclaimed. "I'll hold off Z, you and Dima get to Eleftherios!" X screamed as Z landed a hit, cutting his left arm. Sarah lunged over a glass table, followed by Dima who stumbled over it instead. Sarah then also flipped over a couch and landed in front of Eleftherios, who could not move, he just remained to stare at Z, as if his eye contact was what the control was based on.

Sarah whispered something in Eleftherios' ear, something so important that his control over Z was lifted, Z collapsed to the floor. X ran to her, crouching down beside her and trying to wake her up. X looked over to Sarah and Eleftherios, Dima had just made his way over to them. Eleftherios had his head down, whatever Sarah had said, it had worked. "Just do it. I'm ready." Eleftherios mumbled, looking up at Z.

"I'm sorry for your loss miss..." Eleftherios choked, looking Z right in the eyes.

Sarah came up behind him. "Ready?" Sarah asked, followed by a slow nod from Eleftherios. Sarah placed her hands on his head and jaw. There was a loud cracking noise followed by a firm thud. Sarah had snapped Eleftherios' neck. He now lay on the floor, dead. The last werewolf.

Z woke up about half an hour after it had all unfolded and was told the whole story, followed by hugs from everyone. "There's one thing I need to know though... What did you say to him? What did you say that was so intense that it made him let you kill him, the last of his kind?" X asked Sarah. Sarah smiled and looked at Dima. Dima was staring out the window, not speaking. Dima turned back to them, shaking his head, as Sarah intertwined her hand with his. She kissed him on the cheek and they both smiled. "We'd best be going, but thanks to both of ya for helping us!" Z exclaimed, being pulled up to her feet by X. "Wait! Before you two go!" Sarah exclaimed.

Z and X looked at her, she approached, breaking apart from Dima. "Without telling you too much, I think you'll need this," Sarah spoke, as she reaches into a handbag she had got from across the room. Out of it she pulled two small crystals, one was purple, and another was green. "These will enable your renewal whenever it's needed. AND. You'll be able to transform your appearance now and then, it doesn't have a full charge so don't go overboard though." Sarah said, handing the purple crystal to Z and the green one to X. "I trust you know how to use them?" Sarah asked as Z smashed her crystal on the floor beneath her, small wisps of purple light flying out from it and into her body, causing it to glow the same purple.

X did the same and his body glowed green instead. "Go on try it you two!" Dima said. X transformed himself into a lion, right there in the room and roared at the top of his lungs, causing a window upstairs to shatter. Z did the same except she turned herself back into a man. "I've got no problem with being a woman, in fact, I loved every minute! But this feels more classic me don't you think?" Z chuckled, his accent no longer northern English, this time, it was Australian. Not full-on Australian like you see on TV, a kind of, chill Australian accent.

Z and X stood in the field outside the house, Sarah and Dima standing on the porch of their home, waving to them. Z and X held each other's hand and disappeared into The Fold, appearing once again somewhere else. They looked around, letting go of each other's hands. "Idegen High School?" X read from the large sign across the street. Did they arrive at a school of all places? Z looked at X and laughed.

"This should be fun! We can see how Humans learn! Although we need to not be suspicious, we'll go to a few classes and then go on." They stepped forward and jumped out of their skin as a bullet shot between the pair. A scream rang from inside the building. And a girl jumped from a window, landing on the grass with a roll and looking up at the pair. Z and X looked at each other, their eyes wide. The girl ran up to them, took them by the hand and whispered, her eyes wide and her smile broad. "Run!" She exclaimed, pulling them inside, bullets flying past them and around them at all points.


	6. Leave No One Behind

They burst through the school doors, several other people, closing the door behind them and locking it furiously. The people all gather around Z and X, looking them up and down. X slapped one of them across the head for trying to touch his face. "What's up with these people? In fact, who ARE these people... Who are you... Who were THEY? What the hell is going on out here, this is meant to be a school!" Z exclaimed, looking to the girl who had helped them inside. She had bright green hair, porcelain white skin and beautiful blue eyes. She wore jeans and a crop-top and red and white converse shoes.

She turned around to look at them until now she had been looking out a window in the door. She stepped up to Z and kissed him on the lips passionately, embracing him. "You're cute, try not to die out here..." the girl answered, letting go of him and looking at X, who stepped back, taking Z with him. "If you MUST know, this has been going on for a few months, we've been trapped in here, the majority of the staff and students. A group of men in strange clothes and with strange weapons stormed the campus and started taking hostages, they've taken 3 teachers and 3 students. We've been camped in here ever since..." The girl went on.

"What do they want?" Z asked

"We don't know, we can't get close enough to ask." Piped up a girl in the back.

"Well, there has to be a connection between the hostages. Something they all have in common." X added

"The only connection is that they were all in the same class. The three teachers who were taken were the three main teachers for English, Maths and Languages for that class, and the three students were each the lowest-performing student in the class." The girl answered again, looking from Z to X.

"Well, what can we do to help?" Z said, stepping forward, closer to the girl. The girl looked Z up and down, her frown which she had worn like a mask up until now, warping into a smile. "We need supplies." the girl said, looking around the room. "We ran out a few days ago. We need food, water and a way of communicating. The phone's died a day after this begun. Come I'll show you the place. Everybody else, to your stations!" She barked, sending everyone else, including the teachers, running to different parts of the school, upstairs, into classrooms, some carrying things and some not.

The girl led them behind the main staircase and down another flight of stairs into a dank basement which was lit only by a torch which was framed artistically into the wall. In the room, there were a variety of different pieces of furniture. In the middle however was a large pool table, the balls were on the other side of the room in a plastic bag, Z could now see. On the pool table, there were blueprints of the school, four by Z's count. As well as small pictures of the missing students and teachers.

The girl put her hands on the table, leaning over it, pointing to one blueprint. "This is the upper floor. Up here is classroom 2A, 2B and 2C, across the hall, 3A, 3B and 3C. 3B is the class the hostages were taken from, so we've cautioned them off for safety reasons." The girl explained, pointing to each different room as she said it. "We need to get into that room, there may be a clue you lot missed," X added, interjecting into her rant. "I assure you, there is nothing we've missed, we've searched every inch of that room. There is nothing." She rejected. X looked at Z and smiled playfully.

Both of their eyes changed colour from their usual green to bright purple. "Maybe you need another pair of eyes eh?" Z laughed, watching her eyes widen. She stepped back, holding her left hand to her belt, where she fiddled with the trigger of her gun. "What are you two...?" She exclaimed, stumbling back, collapsing slowly into the edge of the room.

"Here to help. That's what we are. That's what we do in fact. We help." Z reassured her. He reached his hand out to her, smiling. She cautiously took it, holding his hand gently. He pulled her to her feet and into his arms. They looked at each other for a few moments, her face going red. He snaps out of it like a trance, breaking free of her grip and stepping back beside X.

Things continued from there. They had been there almost a week and a half by the time they eventually came in. Three of the men from outside found their way into the building, presumably from a window that had been previously smashed in or opened and came into the main lobby. Z and X woke up to the sound of a gunshot.

For the time they had been in the building, they had been sleeping in a classroom with the girl, Z and X on some of the tables and the girl on the teacher's desk. Z, X and the girl all bolted upright from the shot, looking around the room. "What the hell are those idiots down there doing?" The girl exclaimed, sliding off the desk and onto her feet, pulling her gun from her side. "I don't know, but it doesn't sound good." X chided.

They burst out of the door, running downstairs to the main lobby and to the sight of three men in all black clothes, covered in leather coats which dropped to their knees, on their head they wore masks, but not classic masks. They were electrical. Thick black metal with white light forming two crosses for the eyes and a thin line for the mouth. They talked electronically. "We want Lilly. If she is brought out to us in the next 48 hours, we will release the hostages and leave." The lead man announced, his being the only mask which wasn't white.

His was gold.

The girl began looking around with the crowd, as she does it, moving slowly to hide behind Z, taking hold of his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. She was Lilly, she must've been. Z adjusted his position so he was fully blocking her. "Why should we hand her over? What do you want her for?" Z exclaimed, followed by a roar of approval from the crowd. "That is none of your business boys!" chided the man on the left, pulling a taser from his belt and tasing Z. Z stood up, the taser not working. He walked forward, standing face to face with the lead man, his hand still holding Lilly's.

"She isn't leaving this building. You are going to return the hostages to us and leave. Unless you want a problem with me." Z growled his face directly in front of the man's mask.

Lilly tried to pull Z back but he didn't budge. "Z, come on... He isn't worth it, there's another way..." Lilly pleaded, still tugging on Z's arm. "What do you think you could do to us boy? You think you're tough enough to fight The Cipher?" The man in the right added, the two men on the sides stepping forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with the leader. Z's eyes began to glow red, after a few moments, becoming blood red. "Anytime. Anywhere." Z taunted. The men each held their arms up, pushing buttons on their gloves and disappearing back outside.

The next day, and there was no news from outside. Z had been preparing to fight, readying himself. "So, your name is Lilly then?" Z requested while they sat for dinner. Surprisingly, this was the first time they had brought this up since he had found out. "Yes, yes it is..." Lilly sulked, looking back down at her plate of vegetables and meat.

"Do you have any idea why these men would want with you?" Z questioned, moving his hand closer to hers, their fingers touched for a brief moment and she pulled away. "The leader, the one you challenged Z..." Lilly began, putting her hand back on the table and sliding it on top of Z's, "...He's my father..." She went on, a tear falling from her eye and onto the table. Z tightened his grip slightly on her hand, holding it comfortingly.

"Did he do something? Why'd you leave him?" X pondered.

"Let's just say we didn't have the best... 'father-daughter relationship'" Lilly answered, squeezing Z's hand a little. He let her. "If my father is here, it means he wants something, something from me. He would never come just to get me back." Lilly went on, a tear streaking down her face. X looked to Z, asking himself, 'What are we going to do...?'. Z kept his eyes in Lilly's, not daring to break their gaze. "We will get out of this. Your father will NOT take you home if you don't want him to. And you will CERTAINLY not leave my side." He stated, his voice not wavering at all.

There came a knock at the door, Lilly got up to answer it, Z and X standing alert, hands behind them, glowing a strong violet. Lilly swung the door open and gestured a girl inside, closing the door again behind her. The girl curtsied to Lilly and then twice to Z and X. "Yes?" Lilly requested, sitting down and gesturing for the others to do the same. "I am Kat, I work in the kitchens?" Kat responded, Lilly nodded to acknowledge and she continued. "I might have a way that Z can defeat them. A way where no one dies." She went on, Z's eyes widening as he steps forward into the light looking at Kat.

"Do tell Kat." Z indulged curiously. He was quite worried that he would have to kill the man. Especially now he knows that the man is Lilly's father, Mr Torelle. "I know what you two are, I won't say anything to anyone else if you don't want me to, but I also know what you can do." Kat went on, smiling slightly to herself when Z's eyes widen. X, at this point, wasn't surprised. "Let me guess, you're from my future?" Z returned. "No. Well? Yes and no I suppose." She queried, her body shifting from an upright stance to a slight lean against the door frame. "Let's say I am a family friend. I've met your brother N, you see. We go a while back. The Draconians?" She added, the last words added with a slight questioning tone. Z racked his brain, the girl looked familiar but he couldn't quite place it.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean..." Z responded, looking Kat up and down, trying his best to figure out what it was about her that was familiar. There was something about her. Maybe it was her hair, a mix of brown and red, maybe it was her eyes, deep and blue... Something about her, Z knew her, but at the same time, he didn't. He wasn't sure. "Either way, my plan is..." she went on. The plan was brilliant.

A loud smash came from downstairs, it was a particularly cold Thursday night, and Z, X and Lilly were all in the classroom they usually slept in. They all bolted upright, Lilly still clinging onto Z for warmth. They both looked at each other and broke apart embarrassingly. They kicked down the door, everyone was already down in the main hall as per usual, as well as the lead man from a few days before.

But this time, he did not wear a long coat, or anything fancy as before. This time, he wore armour. A thick, black armour embroidered with gold thread. His mask, this time, was a dark purple. Everyone stood back as Z disappeared from where he had been and reappeared down in front of the man. Both of their blades were drawn at the same time and the stepped back, a woman in a suit behind the man taking a coat from over his armour, revealing a tattoo on his upper right bicep. It was Lilly's face.

Z rotated his sword in his hand, slowly twisting it between his fingertips, the man did the same. "I'd hate to have to defeat you without knowing your name sir..." Z stated, filling the hushed silence of the room. The man took off his mask and threw it to the ground before Z. He brushed the hair from his head. He had a stern face, his cheekbones were rough and sharp, his mouth was very thin and unloving, his eyes were a fiery orange.

His hair was long and went down to his waist behind his back, It was bright red with highlights of maroon. "I am Lycan Torell of House Torell. And I am here to take my daughter back." Lycan announced. Lilly ran down the stairs and stood beside Z, a sword stolen from one of the corridor walls in her hands. "I'm not going back with you. I am NEVER going back with you. Not after everything you did, all those drinks you had and what they have done to you. The last time I saw my own mother was in a puddle of blood and alcohol, and the last time I saw my sister, she was waving to me from the outside of an asylum window. You deserve EVERYTHING we are about to do to you!" She exclaimed, her teeth gritted together and her eyes unwavering.

Torell circled Z and Lilly. X looked around the room, noticing the atmosphere of the room, the terrified, concerned and quite frankly surprised faces. "Okay! Everyone out! Pile upstairs and into 4A and 4B. Stay there until I tell you to come out." X shouted, waving people up to the stairs and through the halls. Z looked at Lilly and smiled a little to himself. Torell sped forward, his sword flying through the air towards Z.

Z thrust his sword to block but his sword was knocked out of his hand by Torell, Lilly leapt in at the same time and parried the slice, her sword remaining connected to Torell's, both of them fighting for control, pushing against each other. Z reached his arm out to the right, the sword flying from the ground and into his hand.

Z sprinted forward, sliding across the floor under Torell. He jumped straight over Z and pushed Lilly to the ground through her sword. Z flipped from his back and onto his feet, mounting the wall, sprinting across it, placing his feet strategically. Calculations running through his head, the perfect angle his body needs to be positioned at, numbers and letters springing to mind.

He kicks off the wall violently, leaving a large crack where he had pushed off. His foot made contact with Torell's face and Torell was sent flying into the wall behind him, Lilly looked, awestruck at Z, who simply shrugged and continued forward towards Torell again. Torell spat blood, the floor below him now red. "Not of this Earth then..." he chided, he pulled himself up onto his feet and picked his sword from the ground. "No, not of this Earth," Z responded, his entire body began to glow, the room shone like nothing he had ever seen before but he could see through it all like he was in a fog and the only one with a fog light.

X ran from a hallway upstairs and leapt down the stairs. "Everyone present and accounted for upstairs, some of them didn't fit in the rooms so I improvis- what the hell?!" X yelled, looking up at Z, his feet began to move and he ran to Lilly, helping her off the ground and pulling her back. "X, what's going on with Z...? Is-is this normal for him?" Lilly stuttered worriedly.

Z's body had surrounded itself with not only the field of light but also with some form of crystal, a thick, green emerald across his left arm and upper left half of his body, it even covered his eye and cheek, the only thing remaining of his face was the Z Mark, which still glowed Gold. As a final measure, as if all of this new change wasn't enough, a single black metal wing exploded from Z's back, and with the tearing of skin and cracking of crystal, the light exploded outwards and towards every window in the building, shattering them all as if they were paper.

He stared at Torell, who had run off in the other direction. His head snapped towards him and part of the crystal on his arm shot towards Torell, catching perfectly on his armour linings and trapping him against the wall. He places a hand on the crystal but it burns his hand. He looks up, the crystals burning his body slowly.

"What the hell Z... Let me go... Fight like a man damn it!" Torell cried, his voice cracking from pain. "You deserve this Torell. You filthy scum, you do not deserve to live." Z chanted, his voice deep and coarse, it sounded as if it was coming not only from his body but from everywhere in the room, he was everywhere. "Z that is enough!" X screamed, the wind picking up to block the sound, "Z stop this! This is too far!" X screamed again, this time louder.

Z didn't even look.

His hand transformed from the crystal-covered mess it was, to a long black spike of rock. He stepped forward slowly towards Torell, he closed his eyes. "This is for Lilly," Z mumbled, his eyes not blinking once, now, no longer green. Black. Black as the night sky. He plunged the spike into Torell's chest, the sound of the wall behind him shattering. Torell spat a large wad of blood onto the floor.

The crystals that were keeping Torell pinned to the wall flew back into Z's arm, with his normal hand, he picked Torell up and began walking outside slowly. Bullets riddled his body, not penetrating the skin, merely reflecting off. "Hold it! Is that Lycan?" One of the men screamed, they all stood, their masks pixelating and changing expressions to one of sadness. Z raised Torell's body into the air, throwing it limply towards them.

"Leave now, or by the gods, you will regret it," Z growled, his voice still deep and coarse. Two of the men picked up Torell's body and they all gathered around each other.

"We'll be back. And when we are, you will be sorry for what you have done you bastard..." One of the men exclaimed, pressing a button on the sleeve of his armour and with that, they were gone. "Z... You're not looking too good. Will he be alright...?" Lilly queried, turning her head slowly towards X.

"I'm not sure Lilly... This has never happened before, this is unprecedented, undocumented... Completely off the books of EVERYTHING I have known..." X answered gently.

Z turned to them, the crystal on his body buried their way into his chest and his body returned to its previous state, he was normal once again. He walked towards the two. "I'm sorry about that... Don't know what that was... I had this sudden surge of power come over me, and I didn't want to fight it... I-I-I couldn't fight it... it-it overcame me..." He went on, stuttering slightly. Lilly ran up to him and hugged him tightly, she let Z raise her off the ground.

"Lilly I am so, so, so dearly sorry for that... I just killed him... I know he did terrible things to you and your family and I know you didn't have the best family life with him... But he was still your father, I shouldn't have done that. I have no excuses and all I can do is pray for your forg-" Z began, a tear dropping from his eye, he was cut off by another passionate kiss from Lilly.

"No need to apologise... He deserved it after all this time... Besides, they say you can't choose your family, but if your friends and loved ones are more families to you then your family, then choose away, right?" Lilly finished, Z let go of her and she landed softly on her feet, crossing one behind the other and holding her hands in front of her.

"Listen, Lilly... I've been wondering... All of this here, it is good and all, but you're the type of girl who needs to see what's REALLY out there... " Z began, Lilly's eyes widened.

"Are you asking me on a date spaceman...?" she smirked

"If you want it to be, we can take you anywhere, anytime and it'll all be at your fingertips," X added in.

Z smiled, "This should be exciting..."


	7. Atlantis Part 1: The Metal Man

Z, X and Lilly stood in front of the students and teachers of Idegen High, watching as they wave furiously, cheering their names. "You're my heroes!" A stump teacher in the back yelled, "I knew Lilly before she was a hero!" A tall, heavily bearded teen in the middle jumped and yelled. "Hero, eh? I can get used to this!" Lilly exclaimed as she bowed to the crowd, laughing and smiling madly. "So... is that a yes...?" X asked her, not looking at her, instead, at the crowds.

"It all depends..." she responded, taking both of their hands in hers and thrusting them up into the air triumphantly, "It all depends on where you take me first." She smiles, looking at both of them. Z and X look at each other, smirk and their arms attached to hers begin to glow. She rockets into the air, surrounded by green energy. "Get me down! I'm afraid of heights! This isn't funny!" Lilly screamed as birds flew around her, singing playfully.

Z and X laughed as the rest of the crowd tried to help her down. Z clicked his fingers and Lilly slowly floated down into his arms. "Better?" He chided as he let her onto her feet. She wound up her foot and kicked him square between the legs.

"Better." She responded, laughing as he collapsed to the floor.   
Within an hour or two, they were ready to depart. "So... how does this work exactly, do we just like... fly off... or...?" Lilly asked, turning her head towards X. "You'll see, little lady..." he responded, patting her on the head. She pouted jokingly and looked down towards her feet, tapping them together awkwardly.  
"Say your goodbyes, we'll be off as soon as we can properly adjust this damned machine..." Z announced loudly, pulling small levers, flicking even smaller switched and pushing buttons all over his Fold Matrix. "Alright, I'll make it quick, I'm sure you two are smart enough to fix it quickly?" Lilly continued, walking over to the crowd. Four people stepped forward, a boy and three girls.

"Goodbye, Kat. Thank you for always being an amazing friend, even if you worked in the kitchens..." Kat shook her hand, pulling her into a hug and patting her back, whispering into her ear. Lilly chuckled and moved along the line.

"Kit, oh Kit I don't know what to say... You helped me through so much... I don't know what I would have done without you..." Lilly choked, Kit pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. "I'll still be there. Always." Kit assured her, holding Kat's hand, a promise ring glinting brightly in the sunlight. Lilly smiled at her and moved along.   
"Daniel and Laurice... you two are the best siblings I think I've ever met. I honestly wouldn't be the same person I am today without you both." Lilly rambled, looking at Daniel and Laurice and smiling. Lilly held her arms out and hugged the four with all her might. After a few minutes and a few shed tears, Z finally piped back up.

"Fixed!" He proclaimed, "Fold Modulation Circuit was out of alignment." He went on. "That means absolutely nothing to me but, hooray!" Lilly cheered

They took each other's hands and folded immediately, their view of the school suddenly puckering and warping into that of a small wooden shack. "I'm underwhelmed..." Lilly chided, keeling over into the nearby river, vomiting profusely. "As am I X... where did you take us now...?" Z agreed, looking to X while patting Lilly on the back gently. "Welcome to the year 3196, and to the world's greatest aquarium!" He yelled, waving his arm out to the shack.

"Greatest seems to be an overstatement..." Lilly chuckled, walking up to the shack and running her hand over the burnt wood. X moved forward, placing his hand on a certain part of the wall and pushing gently, a small panel springing to life from the wood. He punched in a code into the screen and flicked a small switch next to it. The wall folds itself inwards, disappearing from view as it shrunk, revealing a staircase downwards. "After you m' lady." He gestured towards Z, allowing him entry. "Ha, ha, very funny..." Z replied, smacking X over the back of the head as he went inside. Lilly followed after Z, X came after, closing the entry behind him.

The staircase down was all polished marble with small bits of glowing sea-stones engraved inside artistically. They walked for about a minute and a half before eventually walking into a large dome. The roof was invisible and water droplets filled the air, suspended. Fish of all kinds swam above their heads, some smaller fish swimming through the air-droplets, in and out of the giant Megalodon skeleton that now came into view.

Children of all alien races ran around the place, some dragging their parents along and some running from them. "I've changed my mind... This place is beautiful!" Lilly gasped, clutching Z's arm and pointing across the room to an Ice Cream place. "We have no money Lilly, I'm sorry but we can't get Ice Cream..." Z responded, admiring her childlike sense of wonder, he also wanted some Ice Cream as well.

They walked on through an archway of blue marble and into another large dome. A man in a long trench coat was the only one in the room, a strange metallic device in his hand aimed at a security console which he had pried from the wall by a tank of water, he was going to open it. He was going to drain the water into the room, surely flooding it...

"Oi! Mate!" X yelled, a small ball of light appearing in his right hand, the man in the coat turned, revealing his face and clothing. He was a thick-faced man, his eyes were drained to white like he was blind. His shirt was a button-up collared brown shirt, contrasting his brown coat. His pants were baggy, brown and black striped, and of extremely light material.

The strange part is, he wasn't humanoid, or alien. He was an Android, or what seemed like it. He stared at them, his blank eyes darting back and forth to the three. X threw the ball of light under the man's feet, it exploded outwards, creating a cage of purple light around the man. Z, X, and Lilly ran towards him, stopping just before the cage. "Who are you...? What are you doing with that tank?" Z queried, looking him up and down. His mouth moved, but nothing but a terrible smell came from his throat.

X stepped ahead of Z and Lilly, putting his head closer to the bars. The man did the same. His mouth continued to move, his eyes darted from side to side violently. His arm raised through the bars behind him, the device in his hand emitting a loud, high pitched sound, the glass smashed and water began flooding in, deactivating the bars.

"Lilly, get EVERYONE out of here! I can't hold it for much longer!" Z exclaimed, his hands outstretched in front of him, a green field of light blocking the water, his face straining. "But what about you two? Or him!" Lilly returned, running back to the exit, watching them both.

"We'll be fine! He won't get away that easily!" Z fired back, continuing to strain himself, every muscle in his body tensing all at once, his body became almost solid. Lilly turned to run through the entrance, looking back one last time before turning back one last time, frowning and continuing out. Z and X could hear her screaming even from here, yelling frantically for everyone to make for an exit. Z's eyes changed from their usual green to purple, the barrier pushing the water back out into the ocean, the glass fixing itself.

He looked around, half the room was soaking wet, the other was perfectly dry, thanks to him of course. He looked out into the water. X was swimming there, his legs transformed into that of a fish. He pointed out into the ocean, where the Android, whose legs had now become some form of a propulsion system, had rocketed off into the distance. Z put a thumb into the air, nodding his head frantically as he ran to the surface to check on Lilly and the civilians.

X flapped his tail violently, rocketing through the water, just behind the android. The android swum around reefs, through schools of fish, right through a whale's open mouth and even along the seafloor, dodging sea volcanoes left, right, and centre. X followed, struggling to keep up. "I'm going to lose him!" he kept thinking, "I'm going to lose him!" Until finally, a dip in the seafloor led straight down into a black abyss. X followed along, his eyes glowing on their own to illuminate the area around him, like headlights on a car. He swam down, following the android for what felt like an age before finally, he saw it.

A vast golden dome with bronze glass, and inside, a city of pure diamond, where people could be seen in windows of buildings, in cars and on streets of polished granite. The android finally turned to X, waving his hand for him to follow. It swam towards the top of the dome, which opened up and leads inside. It swam for it and went through a red grid of light, which seemed to keep the water out of the inner city. It fell through the top, his legs changing back to normal, it's feet became rockets, and he slowly guided himself onto a rooftop. X followed by his example. It shook his hand, nodding. "You can't speak, can you? Can you take me to someone who can explain all of this...?" X responded, breaking his grip and placing his hands neatly in his pants pockets.

The android opened a door across the roof, walking inside, turning and pressing a button. X wandered over, stepping inside and turning. The elevator descended down a few floors to floor number twenty-two. The android led X through a hallway and to the very end of the corridor, where a large room surrounded a single desk and chair, where, sat at the table, was a man with yellow hair and eyes, an orange suit and red pants. His hair was scruffed into a quaff above him, he looked a bit stereotypical if X was, to be honest.

The android bowed and turned, pressing the button the elevator and escaping out onto the roof once again. "I've waited a while to meet you X of The Oracli. I've heard much about you." The man at the desk said, not looking up from his work. Papers scattered his desk and a holographic monitor displayed a map of the dome's inner sanctums, a series of underground tunnels it seemed. "Is it a universal law that everyone knows who we are when we don't have a clue...? Seems to happen a lot." X fired back, sitting down in a chair on the opposite side of the desk. The rest of the room seemed to be a blur, something was affecting his eyesight, he became nearsighted. He became irritated when the figure in front of him began to laugh. "My offence should be taken. You really don't remember me? Well, I suppose I have changed since all those years ago." He taunted.

"Who are you, what do you want of me. You obviously led me to this city for some reason, so explain yourself." X stated, shifting his position, allowing for a quick exit if required. The man merely laughed again. "You seem no older, even after all this time for me. My exit was indeed quick, but then again, my power always has been above your own." the man went on, he raised his head ever so slightly, so his yellow eyes were more in view. "I've renewed since our last meeting. A nasty meeting with a Grenzen Wildebeest left me injured and dying. But I still keep this." he shot, his words making X's eyes widening. He moved his face more into the harsh streetlight from below them. Both of his eyes were bright yellow, almost the exact same colour as his hair. In one eye, he had a mark, like all of the other Oracli. But his was a Butterfly.


	8. Atlantis Part 2: X and the Hydra

X stumbled backwards, his hands raising as a ring of silver light surrounding his palm. "You! How did you get all the way out here!" X exclaimed as The Butterfly stood from his desk. His form had changed. He no longer wearing a suit, nor did he have messy, unkempt, brown hair. His signature scar had seemed to be gone and his jawline had shrunk. He had renewed, evidently. "It is a long story, but that is not why I've brought you here. I have a challenge for you." He stated.

"What is this challenge then? And why did it require such violence?" X queried as he took a seat, watching as The Butterfly did the same. There was something in his eyes, and it concerned X deeply. He was enjoying this, a sick, grotesque smile spread wide across his face. "Well you see, brother-" The Butterfly began, swiftly being cut off by X.

"We are not brothers. Genetically, perhaps. But socially, I refuse to even acknowledge your existence." X snarled, realising his interruption and allowing him to continue.

"-There is a reason Earth scientists have explored more of space than their own oceans, X." The Butterfly went on, looking to X as a puzzled look spread from ear to ear. "I never noticed that...?" X trailed off, thinking.

"For millions of years, there has been a creature, living in the deepest, darkest corners of the Atlantic Ocean." The Butterfly continued. "I would know, I put it there. Starving at the bottom of the ocean, all alone for several hundreds of thousands of years would give one quite the appetite." The Butterfly finished, his smile twisting into more of a frown. "So, now for the challenge. You must, on your own, defeat The Beast of The Atlantic. If you do not, it will eat you and everyone else on this planet. You have two hours. Go." He smirked, his butterfly mark glowing as he vanished.

X bolted from his chair and checked his watch. It had a time of two hours. "Damn, I don't have much time. Alright, think!" he exclaimed, slapping his hands against the sides of his head, looking around, eyes wide.

He took a look out the window, the streets below lined with creatures. They were not human, yet there weren't aliens either. Something in between. Did they know about The Beast? Who was to be certain. Only The Butterfly could do something so diabolical.

X phased through the wall and window to the air outside, floating mid-air as if swimming in non-existent water. He rockets through the air, transforming his arms into wings of skin, he bursts back through the hole in the dome and out to the open sea. His wings act almost as propellers, sending him speeding through a jet stream of water.

He kept speeding through for around about an hour with nothing but artificial coral reefs, underwater naval bases and sunken cruise liners to be seen. Until eventually, he heard it. The roaring sound, amplified only by another, and another. "Perfect! Of course, it has three heads, why wouldn't it?" X complained to himself, speeding off towards the noise.

He hadn't been zooming around this ocean for too long, he passed old Atlantic City, the new Atlantic City. Both of which had been sunk during 'World War Seven Point Two' as it was affectionately known. He passed the third 'Titanic', sailed in 2691, sunk in 2692. It surprised him how many famous landmarks lie underneath these oceans. But what was up ahead of him was both the delight and scare he needed to continue on.

Forward, he could see red, and only red. As if someone had turned the ocean to a thick red, like blood. He continued through the blood, not daring to look left or right to find the source of the hundreds of gallons of blood, just speeding forward, through it all as if it were nothing. Until he saw it.

A hideous beast of three heads, with an elongated body covered in rough scales. Its eyes were glossed over with white like the Iris had been scooped clean out of the eye. Each head had its own set of ferocious teeth, each the size of skyscrapers, coated in the same thick blood that surrounded them. It roared again, all of the three heads letting out a deafening blast of sound, all at once. The very water seemed to tip and shake under its voice.

X floated there, in the middle of the deep red, almost frozen with fear, REAL fear. It raced forward, the middle of the three heads locking its eyes on to X. It hinged its jaw, prepared to bite into him. X dodged downwards, kicking the beasts centre head up and off its body, a burst of slimy green blood exploded out into the sea, covering X.

He rocketed forward to attack another head, when two more bursts out, attacking him and sending him flying back, a smaller tooth the size of an icicle flies right through the centre of his stomach.

He coughed a wad of golden blood into the sea. It floated off into the ocean, glowing and light its path. X looked down at his stomach and pulled out the tooth. The lining of the newly created orifice began glowing white and slowly beginning to clear itself up, but not fast enough. X would surely die if he didn't do something quick and get home.

X recalled something he had written an essay on during his monster training course at The Temple. The Hydra, killed by Heracles and Lolaus. Heracles would slice a head off, Lolalus would then rush in and seal the wound with flame, preventing another head from growing. After Heracles removed the final head, they buried it under a large rock. This creature almost definitely matched the description of The Hydra. Slightly larger, maybe. But definitely a Hydra.

X rushed at the beast, dodging ahead by swimming under its giant body. He kicked the beast upwards and out of the water. It writhed and roared above the water, unable to breathe, it wriggled pathetically. X had to act fast if he wanted to get out of this alive.

A large black broadsword appeared in his hand, he sliced a head off, quickly using the other hand to explode flame towards the wound. It became a burnt charcoal colour. It squirmed as he dodged another head, slicing it off and burning the wound.

One head after another he sliced and burnt until finally, the last head, the immortal head, was gone. He dropped the body and all the heads back into the ocean, creating a large boulder and hiding it underneath.

He dived back into the water and sped back to the aquarium to find Z and Lilly. But when he got there, there was no one. Every single person who was in the aquarium had all disappeared, and there was no sign of Z or Lilly anywhere.

His vision began to blur, drifting from left to right. "Oh damn." He mumbled, before the hole in his chest won, and he collapsed to the floor. His vision went black, he could hear no one, and he slipped from consciousness.


	9. The Layover

When X came to, he was back in the temple. He batted his eyes, sitting up slowly, not feeling any pain. He looked down where the hole in his chest was, and instead, only saw his bare chest. He was completely healed.

He looked around the room he was in; a large marble dome with shapes engraved into different parts of it, each glowing a different colour. He heard voices from outside, voices that sounded concerned.

"That'll never change, I suppose." He mumbled, stumbling onto his feet clumsily and walking outside.

There, he saw Lilly in Z's arms, crying.

Are those waterworks all for me? he thought, but his thoughts must have been audible because the next thing he knew, Lilly had broken apart from Z, and jumped towards him, giving him a tight hug and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thank God you're alright! You looked absolutely awful when we found you!" she cried, breaking apart from him and taking a step back.

"No need to worry Lilly, made of steel, Z and I - it's tough to kill us," he replied, tapping his stomach where his wound used to be. Lilly looked at him, worry still infecting her eyes, only making her seem sadder.

"You're all eyes today, aren't you?" X chuckled.

They had wandered out of the main temple complex and out onto an open courtyard, surrounded and entirely furnished with four gorgeous quartz pillars, each of which had marvellous marble statues mounted on the top. Each statue was dedicated to the four Titans, as they were known by The Oracli.

"Tell me, who's on these statues then?" Lilly asked Z quietly. It was apparent that she had been pouting, and it was plain to see she was distressed with X's apparent lack of concern for the fact that hours before, he had a head-sized hole in his chest. Z put one arm around the back of Lilly's neck, resting his hand on the upper half of her right arm.

"We call them The Titans. Four goliaths of knowledge, power, death, and life. Knowledge is Gabriel, Power is God, Death is Lucifer, and Life is Bydak. Bydak is the one who created the universe, who created the Oracles, and in turn, created us. So we give him thanks accordingly," Z explained.

As they continued walking, Lilly had her arm around his and X's waist, as she was considerably shorter than the two.

"Wait, but God, Lucifer, and Gabriel are Christian figures?" she inquired, looking from Z to X, then to the statues. "You lot, all so full of yourselves. Where do you think your ancestors picked up your different gods? It's not like someone just woke up one day and thought 'Oh yeah, time to make a new religion!'"

X laughed at her statement, and Lilly pouted jokingly.

"So, what you're telling me, is that the gods are real?" Lilly asked again.

"In a way," Z responded, not looking back to her, and instead, paying close attention to the statue of Bydak ahead of him.

"You look exactly like him, y' know. If you were older, and had larger eyes, and were slightly more muscular," Lilly responded, squinting at the bust.

"Bydak created us in his image, it's more than likely at least one of us would look like him."

"True, but I don't mean just looking like him, I'm talking IDENTICAL," she stated incredulously.

It had been a day or so since X had woken up. They were not yet allowed to leave, seeing as he was unfit to travel.

"I'm fine, I swear, just let me go!" X had whined when A had stopped him as he tried to sneak out to The Fold Point, a small platform on the outer edge of the temple where The Fold could be accessed.

"You're not ready. Your new organs are still forming, your neurons haven't even sparked yet, and your powers are still on the fritz. If you go now, you won't be able to think properly, move effectively OR defend yourself. I'm sorry, but no," A stated firmly, in a matter of fact sort of tone.

X frowned and walked off, this time towards the temple. As he entered through the large archway of pure marble, he saw Z and Lilly, who were each sitting with their legs crossed on a wall, speaking to N.

"So this is your Wife then? I knew you'd find someone out there, given your boyish charm and your constant need to show off," N laughed, lightly punching Z on the forearm.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," Z laughed in return. "May I also point out that Lilly isn't my wife. She's just-"

"I'm just along for the ride," Lilly finished, glaring from N to Z.

"And what, pray to tell, have you been up to?" Lilly asked, raising her voice and putting on a posh accent. She giggled and crossed one arm over the other, placing one open hand in another and rocking back and forth, like a giddy child. Z looked at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled warmly at her strange nervous behaviour.

"I've been travelling, meeting new people, going to new places. Sort of like you lot, except I, usually manage to keep out of most trouble," N grinned, and pulled out a small polaroid, handing it to Lilly. She examined it. In the photo was a girl with chestnut brown hair, sea blue eyes and tanned white skin. She wore a black crop top, with two white lines down each sleeve, as well as black and white short shorts. In the photo, the girl was sliding down the slide at a playground, her smile wide and her arms up to the sky in enjoyment.

She handed the photo to Z and turned to face N. "Wait, where is she now?" she asked, looking around as she did. "She's not here at the moment. She's with her family back home for their Christmas Holiday." N returned

"Will you bring her here one day? Show her your world?"

"Maybe someday, but for now, something tells me The Oracles won't be too happy with my choice to fall for a Human..."

"What do they have against Humans exactly?"

"To be fair, you lot are a mess."

She looked at him with a certain proud fierceness.

"Alright, alright, I was only teasing, sorry." N apologised.

X sat alone in a wing of the temple, in which nothing grew, nothing lived, it was pure empty. The Oracles called it the Reflection Chamber. He was focusing on controlling a little smoke rocket ship as it flew around the room when the door cracked open, and A peaked her head through and inside. "Knock knock." She joked, edging in closer and sitting beside him on the floor.

"What're you doing in here, you hate this place?"

"I've gotten used to it while you were gone. Underwent training and all. I was just checking to see if you're alright? You've been sort of distant since you woke up?" She asked, a worried expression spreading across her face.

X was never usually quiet, in fact, he was often the most talkative beside Z, it often took a lot to shut the two of them up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that-" X paused, he didn't dare continue his sentence, A noticed this however and moved in closer, resting her hand on his.

"It's okay. This room's a sanctuary, right? Consider this a safe space, yeah? I'll keep your secret if you keep a secret for me." She added, looking at him puzzledly, waiting for a response.

X considered this for a moment. He felt guilty for thinking what was running through his head, and yet, there it was. Like a cancer of the mind, growing.

"I suppose that makes sense." he finally let slip.

"You go first then."

"Are you sure you want to hear? It's kind of... personal..."

"I won't tell a soul. I promise you."

"Alright then."

X took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thinking over the situation one last time before deciding to speak.

"Ever since Lilly joined us, I feel like I've been playing second fiddle to their parade. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my brother, finally finding someone equally as sentimental and ridiculous as him finally has entered his life and made him happy beyond belief, but I am sick and tired of being left behind because they're too wrapped up in each other to understand that I'm there too. That every now and then I'd like to get them out of their own little world and finally rejoin me, so we can do these things together. It's all I really want." he said, his voice rising and falling like a mountain range as he spoke.

A looked at him, tilting her head a tad to the side. "I can understand why you're upset. No one deserves to feel... Forgotten, or afraid, or like they don't belong, especially when it comes to family. You've been through a lot since you left. Hell, it's been two weeks and you've witnessed Z die, more times than any of us ever have. And that won't change any time soon, they love each other, it's honestly kind of pathetic-" she was cut off by a small chuckle from X, which in turn, made her laugh a little too.

"-He doesn't care for you any less. I think he's just excited to be in love. It's not exactly a common feeling for us. N is the only other one of us to fall for someone as of yet." She finished her sentence, looking back at him. A tear, the colour of gold mixed with pearly white, ran down the scape of his face. He wiped it away and smiled at her.

"Don't sell me short now, you go."

"This won't sound good, and you might be mad. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I won't judge you for it, I promise."

"Well... Alright. What the hell."

A looked around, and did the same as X, breathing in deeply, closing her eyes, breathing out, and opening them again.

"I've been... communicating with The Butterfly recently..." she said slowly, clearing her throat when silence ensued.

"You've been, what?"

"Talking with The Butterfly, I know it's bad but-"

"It's a hell of a lot more then bad, he's so far been responsible for both mine and Z's deaths, and no doubt will he be for more-"

"You think I don't know that! You think I don't know that he has done very, very bad things! That you and Z think he is irredeemable! Well guess what Napoleon, I've decided otherwise, and I wanted to hear his side of the story, is that so wrong!"

X considered this for a moment. "Perhaps not... What did he say then?" he said, his eyes resting on her. She had looked down to her feet, which she tapped together gently, making a quiet clicking noise that vibrated around the room.

A call came from outside, barely audible through the thick black walls and door. "X! Come on! We're off now! We've just got the all-clear!" he heard Lilly yell. He stood up from his seat, walked to the door, smiled back across at A, and then left, closing the door behind him.


	10. The Oracles Part 1: The Crash of the Moonshot

Once again, Z and X of the Oracli stood outside the temple, waving frantically to their family. Only this time, their new addition, Lilly stood by their side. She stood in the middle of Z and X, holding each of their hands, raising them up in the air and smiling broadly, laughing as the crowd of people waved and cheered. 

“Um, actually, I’m thinking of staying here for this one.” X pushed out finally. He had been thinking it over, and he wanted to do a little research on a theory he had come up with after his conversation with A.

“Well alright, if you insist X. We’ll keep a tracker on in case you change your mind and need to fold to us.” Z said, giving him a hug and a slight nudge towards the others.

“We’re gonna miss you, X!” Lilly exclaimed, running up and hugging him tight around the waist.

“You’ll be fine! You have each other, and no one can stop Lilly’s brain and Z’s strength.”

“You want to set the Fold Matrix this time then, Lilly?” Z asked, looking down at her, this was the first time Lilly really noticed their difference in height. He was far taller than she was.

“Gladly!” she exclaimed loudly. She had never really learned how to use it, but after the few times she had actually watched Z and X use them, how hard could it really be, right? She went to reach for Z’s wrist, in order to use his Matrix, before A had walked out of the crowd and seized her wrist.

“Hey! Wh-” Lilly whimpered, before looking down at her wrist. On it, was wrapped a Fold Matrix, just like Z and X’s, only this time, hers was sleek black leather. She opened the top flap, revealing the intricate buttons inside. In white marker, was marked each different button she had to press, and in what order. As well as her name carved into the side. She smiled widely and shot her arms around A, hugging her tightly.

She let go and began following the instructions on the Console. It led her to flick a switch on the left, rotate a wheel on the bottom, turn on two switches in the middle, press a big red button on the right and push a slider on the top to the left. Z quickly realised what was happening and grabbed onto her shoulder, they both puckered away, leaving nothing but a breeze back at the temple. The rest of the Oracli all wandered off back into the temple.

Lilly shot through an oil black abyss. Bubbles surrounded her, each showing her different places and times she could go, swiftly followed by Z. Lilly looked around, swimming in the air, before shooting into a large purple bubble about a metre from her. Z looked at it with disdain, shrugged, and followed her through.

She was spat out into a sleek white room, polished to the point she could see herself in almost every surface. She took a step forward and looked around before being sent flying to the floor by Z, who was also spat out of the bubble (much less gracefully too).

The room around them was almost pure white like someone had forgotten to paint it. It was almost unsettling. “This has to be the future then!” Lilly said, turning to Z for confirmation. Z looked at her in bewilderment.

“What makes you think this is the future?”

“Sleek white, an entirely empty room, gotta be the future!”

“Willing to place a bet on it?”

“Something usually goes wrong when we make bets, you know that. You remember the bet we made on that desert planet a couple of months back?”

“Okay that’s not fair, how was I meant to know the Quadrapedians find grapes disrespectful?”

“So much for all-knowing.”

“Anyways… Let’s just focus on getting out of here and working out where we are.”

“Right.”

The pair split apart, only now realising how close they had gotten during that conversation, they were almost nose to nose. Lilly investigated the wall they had come out of the Fold from, she traced her hand over the wall to no avail.

Z moved to the opposite end of the room, where a keypad in a strange language flashed red. Does this mean danger? Does it mean it’s locked? His eyes glowed a solid blue and the numbers bent themselves out of their strange shapes, to form human numbers instead.

“Okay, Lills, we’re looking for a 4 digit code, search the room and have a look. Places like these usually have factory backup codes we can use to reset the door and get out of here. It could be hidden anywhere or in anything.”

“Got it, on the lookout”

Lilly had always liked Z’s little nicknames quite a lot, come to think of it, Lilly had always liked Z quite a lot. Of course, she knew she was far too stubborn to tell him, so she kept it to herself. Her being the self-deprecating monster she was.

She investigated the sidewalls of the small room, on one wall was bookshelves empty of all books, which was also made of the same strange white material as the rest of the room. She walked to the other side of the room where there was nothing but a blank wall with a pattern of lines going in every which direction like a puzzle.

Lilly stared at the seemingly empty wall and noticed something that caught her eye. The pattern wasn’t just a pattern after all. It separated the wall into different sections. She walked up to one and examined it. 

No lights or tech anywhere, meaning it isn’t remote activated, it’s manual somehow. Maybe if I just-

She dug her fingers into the rivets of the wall, using all her might to pull. The wall crumbled away into holographic specks on the floor at her feet. Holograms. The wall was made of holograms!. 

She walked into the newly opened room to find a bathroom like the ones back home. Black and white tiled floors, a porcelain bowl toilet, a sink and a mirror-cupboard above it. A shower with light blue semi-transparent curtains.

She left the small room, and as she did the wall phased and glitched back into existence, the hologram having been seemingly put back up. She checked the other rooms. One was a medieval-style bedroom with a four-poster cal-king bed. The other was a 1920’s kitchen, fitted with granite countertop, and apron. The final was a small grungey looking room filled with technology.

“Uh, Z…”

Z walked towards her after spending several minutes trying to work out a way to hack the system and open the door, walked into the small tech room and immediately began tinkering with consoles left and right. 

After a few minutes of tinkering, they heard the sound of the door sliding open. They both left the room finally and entered into a long corridor, with hundreds of attached rooms like the one they were stuck in. They each closed their eyes, pointed in the same direction, opened them, and headed off down the hall. 

They had been walking for what felt like a century before finally reaching a large open area. The room had a massive golden chandelier in the centre of the roof. Each side of the room had a spiralling staircase leading to the second and third floors. 

The first floor consisted of a coffee shop, a reception desk, another long hallway to the art gallery, an internet café, and a dance area with a band of various alien species playing to a crowd of adoring people. A man in what appeared to be some form of uniform loomed over them on the third floor.

“Up there, some form of an officer or something. We should ask him where we are.” Z exclaimed over the sound of the band’s alien rendition of an Earth song from the 2000s. All he could catch of it was a particular piano note to start it off, a G if he was correct.

Lilly nodded, and they made their way up to the man. When they finally climbed their way to the third floor, they walked up to the man. “Hello, I am Z of the Oracli and this is my partner Lilly. We were just wondering where… and when… we are exactly?”

The man’s eyes widened. He took a deep breath and turned to them. “We don’t have much time. Z, Lilly, something terrible is about to happen.”

“How do you know?” Lilly queried, taking hold of Z’s hand.

“Nevermind that, we haven’t the time. You are on the SFS Moonshot, the year is 5630 AD, and this ship is going down.”

“Going down? Going down how? If you know about all of this then why can’t you stop it?” Z grunted, staring the man down.

“I can’t. The event is time-locked, and I know what’s going to happen, therefore I’m forbidden to interfere. Just please, listen to me. In approximately 5 minutes this ship is going to enter the atmosphere of a J-Class planet. Meaning the entire ship’s plasmatic energy is going to cascade and flow through the regulators, expelling a toxic gas through the ship and giving the passengers a type of slow-burning poison. The ship will crash, killing everyone on board if the initial shockwave doesn’t do it first.”

“We can’t just leave them in there in that case! Load them into escape pods and send them on their merry way!” Lilly exclaimed in shock.

“No, Lills, we have to let events pan out. You can’t interfere with time-locked events in time. Not even I can. The most I can do is try and soften the blow and work out a way out of here when we get to the surface.” 

Within mere moments of Z finishing his sentence, the entire ship churned and retched. People tumbled over the dance floor and things went flying across the room. A wave of dark, putrid, green gas swept the ship from top to bottom, causing everyone to pass out, except for Z and the officer.

“Who are you… Why doesn’t the smoke affect you…”

“You’ll know soon enough Z. I’m an ally. I come with a warning.”

“A warning?”

“You spent your whole childhood training for a day you’ll have to fight something that might threaten the entire universe. You just spent the rest of it searching in the wrong place. It’s closer than you think. What’s about to happen down on that planet will be the Kickstarter for something big. Be careful, and make the right decision.” The man pulled a small remote from his pocket, pushed a red button, and was immediately sent flying into the vacuum of space, dying as soon as he left the ship’s forcefield.  
Z picked Lilly up from the ground, strung her over his shoulder and ran for the nearest corridor.

He followed winding corridor walkways for a few minutes before ending up at the command centre of the ship. He put Lilly into one of the empty chairs and sat down at the main control console.

He typed at keyboards, flicked switches, and adjusted different settings for a while before realising that the ship had been sabotaged. The forcefield had been taken down from its usual capacity of 95% all the way down to 20%. 

Z braced for impact as the ship came to an explosive stop on the top of a high mountain, the mountain sliced the ship clean in half, and the remains were scattered for miles.


End file.
